Monday, July 4, 2022

Not Celebrating Much

“Fourth of July Parade Halted Due To Shooting.”


This is the most American headline, ever.  A young white man climbed up a ladder to the roof of a building on the Highland Park, IL parade route with an AR15.  The death toll so far is said to be 6, with many hospitalized.  What is it going to take?

I, personally, don't see much to celebrate this day.  Justice Thomas has said that gay and trans rights, contraception, same sex marriage, and privacy of medical records are on the line next.  We're truly heading toward a dictatorship.  Jim and I keep hoping that we die before it's complete, but they're moving right along with killing elections.

Next session the SC will be considering North Carolina's desire to implement the independent legislature concept.  This would allow the state legislature to pick the electors, irrespective of who the citizens voted for.  They can all be dictators for life!  Yay!  Many of the lawyer pointy heads are saying this is not what the constitution says/means when they say states control how elections are run, but the Gang of 6 will probably go along with it because they want the old white men to stay in power.

And then there is the overturning of Roe v. Wade.  It's already affecting women's health care.  Pharmacists are denying methotrexate to women because one of its uses is treating ectopic pregnancy without surgery.  Seems like a good idea, eh?  No cutting, no pain, woman does not bleed to death.  But nooooooo.  Pity the unfortunate women of child bearing age who have lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or cancer.  No treatment for them because they might get pregnant. 

Methotrexate is in a class of medications called antimetabolites. Methotrexate treats cancer by slowing the growth of cancer cells. Methotrexate treats psoriasis by slowing the growth of skin cells to stop scales from forming. Methotrexate may treat rheumatoid arthritis by decreasing the activity of the immune system.
The most common drug used to treat ectopic pregnancy is methotrexate. This drug stops cells from growing, which ends the pregnancy. The pregnancy then is absorbed by the body over 4–6 weeks. This does not require the removal of the fallopian tube.

This is a twitter thread I screen scraped from Threadreader.  It discusses how saving the life of the mother will probably work in Kansas.

2/I get a call from a physician who tells me that our patient is 28 weeks pregnant and the fetus is dying from a naturally occurring condition. As the fetus dies, the woman’s body can quickly become infected and she can die as well. So, why are they calling me?
3/Because in Missouri (in public facilities), if there is still a heartbeat, it is considered an abortion to terminate the pregnancy. So, the question becomes…is the woman close enough to dying to justify the abortion.
4/Let me repeat that: me, a lawyer, has to help a trained physician make the decision of whether their patient is near enough to death (under the law) for them to take action that is agreed to by the patient (and often their spouse).
5/I can’t tell you how messed up this is. This is what we were already dealing with. Missouri’s new trigger ban resulting from the fall of Roe has made things even worse. These are women who did not plan to terminate their pregnancy.
6/They are wives, mothers, sisters, and employees who are dealing with a tremendously difficult situation. Their lives are risked by delaying life saving care.
7/And, under the heartbeat rules (now standard in several states), there is serious question about whether an ectopic pregnancy can be treated before the Fallopian tube ruptures (a life threatening condition).

There's more, but those were the high points of her thread.

In other news of the bad there is this:


And this:


Here in the GPNW it rained most of the day.  It stopped about 2:30 and the sun came out.  As always, we feel badly for the people who made the effort to pack up the spouse and the kids and head for the great outdoors.  When we used to spend summers in Issaquah we always had to remind ourselves that summer did not start until July 5.

11 comments:

  1. add this to the list:
    https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3541102-scotus-just-quietly-slashed-your-sixth-amendment-rights/

    This is how fascists move in completely and utterly , we are watching it in real time- now that lard orange pants is not longer their charismatic liar they must install a better one...Could be DeSatan or Glen Youngkin or...who knows. Short lived so called democracy has gone off the rails- get your guns and ammo now, special deal!
    Any toddler can get them.

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  2. It is definitely a horrible time to be a woman in the US, or for that matter, anyone who isn't an old white man (and a few old black ones too) and their sycophants. Margaret Atwood was an apparent psychic.
    Many of us watch with horror here in Canada and just hope that the RW's here will be kept at bay.

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  3. It is the worst time I can ever remember--so frightening and discouraging. We had decent weather over on the west side but no one likes fireworks or feels in the mood for them.

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  4. Scary times. Just months away from losing our democracy/republic to an authoritarian theocracy.

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  5. I think our getting all upset about this (easy to do) is going to damage our own health. There is only one real thing we can do-- vote for Democrats, who support the right to abortions, in all races in November. Also when a primary has several possibilities, donate to the who is pro choice. We can't do anything about it beyond voting and hopefully all will do that and vote for those who are truly pro-life, which can also be called pro-choice.-- Democrats. Oh and encourage our current Congress to pass a law bringing back Roe v. Wade on a federal level. The Dems could do it. Why haven't they? I'd hate to think it's because they want victories in November. It might not work as they hope; so push them to do what is right. I have never been one to only vote for one party. I am now

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  6. I can't imagine the SC would allow state legislatures to go against the will of the people in an election. But then, I couldn't imagine a lot of what's already happened, so what do I know?

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  7. Nope, nothing to celebrate on July 4th.

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  8. Sometimes I am in despair. But I can't rest there. We have to fight this. Keep fighting this. Thanks for your rage and clarity.

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  9. Yes, it's all the most American Headlines ever, unfortunately. Where we are heading as a Nation is not only dangerous, but will terminate life as we know it becoz Radicalized Extremists of various sorts have infiltrated Govt. to a level now they are dooming a Democracy that too many have taken for Granted and when it's gone, won't be any place many of us will want to live or defend anymore.

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